Our Final Films

We completed production. Our films will be launched at the end of February 2019. The finals films developed out of our previous creative experiments. The New Young Peers learned about storytelling, storyboards, and camera angles. And made a series of short films to test various narrative ideas and filming techniques. We wanted to find the best way to communicate their advice to new arrivals. Through the medium of film.

Direct Audience Address

We tried the technique of the direct audience address. And reviewed our experiments. We had to change direction. A direct camera address felt, against all expectations, impersonal and surprisingly artificial. The peer mentors explained why this filming technique did not ultimately work: it is nearly impossibly to give ‘universal advice’ to a young person. Each individual experiences the challenges of making home in Scotland in a very personal way, depending on their unique background.

You are Not Alone

The direct audience address was a good idea in theory. It seemed a clever way of translating young people’s advice into a filmic moment of mentoring. But it did not work in practice. No cleverly scripted scenario is as powerful as seeing another young person ‘living it’. The group’s most important aim for the films was to let new arrivals know that they are not alone, but that there are other young people like them.

Vivid Portraits of Young People

The films are vivid portraits of young people. M. and H. are good friends who support each other. D. plays in a Samba band. H. is passionate about drawing. R. studies to become an accountant one day. And M. tells how she set her mind on learning English quickly, so that she can speak for herself. Our final films want to bring the New Young Peers’ message to life visually: You are not alone. A new life is possible.